Test Batches

AToE · Jun 12, 2009

Hi, just getting started out (first attempt at brewing anything) so I thought I'd post my planned test batches here to see if anyone might have any last minute suggestions. I have read the NewBee guide (and will read it again!) and since this is my first try, I'm going to base my test batches on the exact recipe/batch size/process used in the guide, with variations in each batch so I can see what I like and what I don't, as well as have some fun with it.

I'm going to do 6 batches of 1 gallon each, fermenting in glass jugs. My yeast for all 6 will be Lalvin 71B-1122, and I'm not going to boil or pasturize any of the batches, as the honey I've bought for these first attempts is not raw and I don't want to kill off any more of the flavour. What I am planning to do is to boil my water (very normal tasting tapwater that has been run through a brita filter) for at least 10 minutes to sterilize it, then mix in the honey as it cools - then go through the same steps as in the guide for hydrating/pitching the yeast, aerating the must etc. I will be adding a little yeast nutrient (when I actually brew I will keep extensive records so I can figure out what went wrong later!).

Batch 1: Aiming for a medium finish mead, exactly like in the guide. 2 lb. 14 oz of Clover Honey, no additives other than yeast nutrient.

Batch 2: Exactly the same as batch 1, but with the addition of some acid blend. This batch is really just for me to learn what the difference in taste is that can come with adding acid - if anyone has a suggestion as to how much or little I should add please let me know, I'm a bit in the dark on that.

Batch 3: I'm not 100% set on this one yet, but I think I will be again replicating batch 1, but with the addition of steeping some green tea in the boiling water ( before adding the honey). I don't think I should leave the tea in the must for fermentation, as I really dislike the bitterness one gets in teas that have been steeped for too long.

Batch 4: Blueberry Melomel. I tried using the mead calculator to figure out the amount of blueberries to add but got a bit lost - that thing might take some practice! I wouldn't mind this one being more on the sweet side, so I think I will again copy batch 1 (2 lb. 14 oz honey) and add the blueberrys into the must before fermentation. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how much/many blueberries to add, and to whether I should crush them a bit first to let the juice escape? (If I find in after primary fermentation that the mead isn't fuity enough I may end up adding more)

Batch 5: Avocado honey! I like dark beers and dark honeys, so why would I not love dark honey mead? I'm planning to again duplicate batch 1, but simply swap the Clover honey for Avocado. I would really apreceate some advice as to whether I should leave this one without acid blend, or add some in? On that note, could I leave it out, and then add it after primary, or even after fermentation altogether, or does that create taste abomination?

Batch 6: Really just for fun, this isn't even a mead. I'm going to attempt to duplicate batch #1 using good quality Maple Syrup instead of honey. I realize that maple syrup has a lower sugar % than honey, so I'll try to do some math to figure out how much extra to add, and I'll err on the side of dry, as I can always add more after primary (I think...). Does anyone know if there's a name for fermented maple drink? Maple wine is as lame as calling mead honey wine, and calling it a mead doesn't make sense either!

Thanks in advance for your time!

akueck · Jun 12, 2009

Couple of suggestions:

Acid blend: don't add it up front. Honey musts are poorly buffered and the initial stages of fermentation will (99% of the time) push the pH below 4.0 without you needing to do anything extra. If you add extra acid in the beginning, that initial pH drop could be too severe--your yeast will not be happy.

Berry mead: put the berries in the secondary. They take up a lot of room, so if you use them in the primary you'll only get about 1/2 gallon out of it (primary needs more headspace).

Good luck, welcome, and have fun!

Medsen Fey · Jun 12, 2009

Welcome to GotMead? AToE!!!

You have a nice plan that will give you some good comparisons to contrast the different flavors that different additives can produce. It should give you some good insight into what you like the best.

As Aaron points out, with meads it is usually a good idea to add acids after the fermentation is complete so that there is less chance of a stuck fermentation. You can add it gradually to get it to the level where it tastes best to you.

Another thought you could consider for batch three as an alternative to tea is to use tannin. That way you can get a feel for how acid impacts flavor compared to tannins.

One thing to think about for all the batches starting with the same honey at the same amount it that it is easier to mix all the honey and water in one large 5 gallon bucket and then split it up into individual batches. That way the gravity will be consistent between all the batches.

For batch 6 I don't know anything to call it other than maple wine.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of all these batches when they are done.

Good Luck!
Medsen

akueck · Jun 12, 2009

I meant to write a little more earlier, but my wife reminded me it was time to go get the Thai food. ;D Ok, here is the rest:

With the berries, I'd suggest starting around 2 lb for your one gallon. You can add more later if it's not berry enough for you. Blueberries are fairly tart though so you don't want to add too much if your mead will be dry. You can also search the forum, there are several blueberry meads floating around so you can get a sense of how much and when the berries are added. If you have a larger vessel (a 2 gallon bucket?), you'll be happier dealing with the fruit than if you try to fit the mead and the fruit all in a tiny gallon jug. The mead only needs 4-7 days with the fruit (give or take some days), so there is not much worry of oxidation if you use a larger container for this part.

Medsen's suggestion of using tannin instead of tea is a good idea too. Tannin extraction with tea varies with the variety of tea you use, the volume and temperature of the water, the steep time, etc etc. And of course there is the tea flavor to contend with. Using a powdered tannin, for example, is a better way to gauge the effect of tannin alone and will give you a definite and reproducible baseline to work with.

There have been maple experiments too if you wanted to poke around and see what others have come up with. Honey + maple is usually called acerglyn around here. If you come up with a cool name for your maple wine, let us know and we can help to cultivate it. ;D

Lastly, you probably don't have to bother boiling your water ahead of time, assuming it is safe to drink as-is. If your water is really hard, boiling might help precipitate out some of the calcium, etc. But otherwise using it room temp (or slightly higher for ease of mixing in the honey) saves time on the heating & cooling.

AToE · Jun 13, 2009

akueck said:
Couple of suggestions:

Acid blend: don't add it up front. Honey musts are poorly buffered and the initial stages of fermentation will (99% of the time) push the pH below 4.0 without you needing to do anything extra. If you add extra acid in the beginning, that initial pH drop could be too severe--your yeast will not be happy.

That's great to hear, I'd be much happier adding it at the end anyways, that way if I decide I do like adding acid I can add it to all the other versions I made as well - plus, if I'm adding it at the end I can just do it to taste rather than trying to guess how much to add at the beginning.

Berry mead: put the berries in the secondary. They take up a lot of room, so if you use them in the primary you'll only get about 1/2 gallon out of it (primary needs more headspace).

More head space in the primary? Hmmm, didn't know that. I'll be using 1 gallon glass jugs for every step of my fermentation, so does that mean I can just leave a little more space at the top of the jug for the primary fermentation and then top it up (or in the melomel case, just add blueberries) for the secondary after racking?

Medsen Fey said:
Another thought you could consider for batch three as an alternative to tea is to use tannin. That way you can get a feel for how acid impacts flavor compared to tannins.

I didn't think about tannin... good idea. I'll ask my local homebrew if they have some, and if so I'll try that, I can always try the tea idea later. Should I add this at the end like the acid?

One thing to think about for all the batches starting with the same honey at the same amount it that it is easier to mix all the honey and water in one large 5 gallon bucket and then split it up into individual batches. That way the gravity will be consistent between all the batches.

That makes sense, but if I'm weighing the honey that goes into each batch, and all the jugs are filled to the same point when primary starts shouldn't that also work out ok for consistancy? I only ask because I don't really have any big enough containers to mix in, though I could obviously buy one.

akueck said:
With the berries, I'd suggest starting around 2 lb for your one gallon. You can add more later if it's not berry enough for you. Blueberries are fairly tart though so you don't want to add too much if your mead will be dry. You can also search the forum, there are several blueberry meads floating around so you can get a sense of how much and when the berries are added. If you have a larger vessel (a 2 gallon bucket?), you'll be happier dealing with the fruit than if you try to fit the mead and the fruit all in a tiny gallon jug. The mead only needs 4-7 days with the fruit (give or take some days), so there is not much worry of oxidation if you use a larger container for this part.

Okay, great, thank you. So if I do end up adding the fruit to the jug itself after the first time I rack, I should rack again and get rid of the fruit in a 4-7 days? Thanks, I wouldn't have thought over that, I was going to leave them in for all of primary!

There have been maple experiments too if you wanted to poke around and see what others have come up with. Honey + maple is usually called acerglyn around here. If you come up with a cool name for your maple wine, let us know and we can help to cultivate it. ;D

I'll see what I can do.

Lastly, you probably don't have to bother boiling your water ahead of time, assuming it is safe to drink as-is. If your water is really hard, boiling might help precipitate out some of the calcium, etc. But otherwise using it room temp (or slightly higher for ease of mixing in the honey) saves time on the heating & cooling.

Okay, I figured I'd need to get rid of any chlorine that might be there, but if I've brita filtered it and it tastes fine I guess that does mean it's not going to magically start tasting bad later!

Thanks for both your help, I'll add more once I get my honey (had to cancel my shipment last night because shipping charges were going to cost more than the honey!) and exact recipes and process down.

akueck · Jun 13, 2009

Yes, the primary will need a little extra space up top. You can try Medsen's favorite anti-foam drops, which will let you fill it up closer to the top. But especially with berries, the more vigorous primary is going to need extra headspace. The CO2 makes the berries float to the top, and that will easily clog the airlock or even a blow-off tube. Mead missiles! Putting the berries in secondary will probably still produce some CO2, but it will be more gentle. Personally I would suggest a bucket when using fruit, but I've done fruit in gallon jugs before as well and it can work fine.

As for topping up, with gallon-sized batches I've gotten to initially filling them up to about the curve in the neck. Then after 3-5 days or so, the activity is usually slowed down enough to top up. If you can, save some of the initial must (fridge in a sanitized container) or mix some new stuff with the same OG and add that. If you add water, you'll dilute it. You can go that route or just make slightly less mead.

Does your water have a lot of chlorine? You could boil it, that would help. Cutting it with some bottled spring water also works. I very often just use the tap water and haven't noticed a chlorine influence so far. But if you're worried, a few extra minutes heating up some water is good insurance.

The tannin can go in right at the beginning. You can get grape tannin in powder form, and there are several other powdered tannins that are sometimes mixes of grape and oak, or just oak, or who knows what.

A 5 or 6 gallon plastic food-grade bucket is a great tool to have, if you feel like picking up some extra equipment. Most homebrewing supply stores will sell them with a spigot at the bottom too (very often called "bottling buckets"). These are great for mixing up a must and then splitting it into smaller vessels. I did this with my yeast test batches. Personally I feel like mixing the honey and water in the larger container and splitting it is less work than mixing it in gallon increments. Plus you get the bonus of knowing that each batch started out exactly the same, honey/water-wise. Extra extra bonus: you can make extra must for topping up.

AToE · Jun 15, 2009

akueck said:
Yes, the primary will need a little extra space up top. You can try Medsen's favorite anti-foam drops, which will let you fill it up closer to the top. But especially with berries, the more vigorous primary is going to need extra headspace. The CO2 makes the berries float to the top, and that will easily clog the airlock or even a blow-off tube. Mead missiles! Putting the berries in secondary will probably still produce some CO2, but it will be more gentle. Personally I would suggest a bucket when using fruit, but I've done fruit in gallon jugs before as well and it can work fine.

Okay, thanks. I'll leave them out until secondary, and I'll leave some headroom in the primary, don't need any missiles!

As for topping up, with gallon-sized batches I've gotten to initially filling them up to about the curve in the neck. Then after 3-5 days or so, the activity is usually slowed down enough to top up. If you can, save some of the initial must (fridge in a sanitized container) or mix some new stuff with the same OG and add that. If you add water, you'll dilute it. You can go that route or just make slightly less mead.

I'll keep some extra must in the fridge then.

Does your water have a lot of chlorine? You could boil it, that would help. Cutting it with some bottled spring water also works. I very often just use the tap water and haven't noticed a chlorine influence so far. But if you're worried, a few extra minutes heating up some water is good insurance.

I have no clue about my water quality other than that it tastes ok, but the extra time to boil it doesn't bother me, plus medium hot/warm water should make mixing the honey faster.

The tannin can go in right at the beginning. You can get grape tannin in powder form, and there are several other powdered tannins that are sometimes mixes of grape and oak, or just oak, or who knows what.

Cool, I will try this. I also might try buying some oak cubes or spirals, but I'll leave that until my next batch of batches.

A 5 or 6 gallon plastic food-grade bucket is a great tool to have, if you feel like picking up some extra equipment. Most homebrewing supply stores will sell them with a spigot at the bottom too (very often called "bottling buckets"). These are great for mixing up a must and then splitting it into smaller vessels. I did this with my yeast test batches. Personally I feel like mixing the honey and water in the larger container and splitting it is less work than mixing it in gallon increments. Plus you get the bonus of knowing that each batch started out exactly the same, honey/water-wise. Extra extra bonus: you can make extra must for topping up.

I think I'll leave the bucket for now (though it does sound like a good thing to have) and use a 6 or so gallon metal pot instead. Should be easier to keep sterile, and I can use it to boil my water in first. I'll make a little extra must and keep it in the fridge for top up purposes.

Thanks for all your help. If I can get my hands on honey tonight I should be brewing tomorrow!

AToE · Jun 20, 2009

I have my batches all done up now (I'll post details later), and I've been shaking them periodically to aerate them - but I was wondering when I have to start worrying about exposing them to light? I have them in a closet that isn't light-tight, so I'll eventually have to cover them in black garbage bags... but when?

akueck · Jun 20, 2009

I'd say try to keep them out of the light from the start. You can get away with more indirect light than direct light. I don't know if this has been officially studied but I'd also guess you can also get away with more exposure to early morning/late evening light than midday light.

A little ambient light coming through a crack in the door probably won't ruin things. I sometimes use a cardboard piece or plastic lid between the light and the fermenter and so far no problems.

AToE · Jun 21, 2009

Thanks. I'll see what I can do then about keeping them out of light as much as possible. I keep exposing them everytime I look to see which have airlock activity (the last batch doesn't yet, and one batch ended up getting a second packet of yeast before it would start) and when I go to aerate them by shaking. (some of them I'm having a hard time aerating because there is so much carbon dioxide that it turns into a gyser... even after being agitated and shaken for five minutes!).

AToE · Jun 22, 2009

Okay, so here's what I ended up doing (had to make a few changes to the original plans) and the rough details of how they're all doing right now. My original source of honey didn't work out, the shipping was going to cost more than the honey, so I ended up going with Superstore. Sad, but true. The next six batches I do after these (planning to do a shoot out with 6 different yeasts) will have some good varietal honey from a local Apiary. All these are still with 71B-1122 yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient. I've been shaking them up twice a day as per the instructions, two gave me the gyser effect, but I'm learning to control that. All recipes used 2 lbs 14oz of honey unless otherwise listed, but not all that honey made it into the first four batches because of a wee mistake I made in measuring...

Batch 1: Aiming for a medium finish mead, exactly like in the guide. 2 lb. 14 oz of Clover Honey, no additives other than yeast nutrient.

This is the same, but the Clover Honey is now mystery brand "Clubpack" "Canada No.1 White (creamed) Unpasteurized" - not actually too bad of a honey, pretty boring though. This one (and the next four batches) i screwed up and used too much water, so I think my starting gravity is a bit low. I have lots of excess must in the fridge though, and I learned my lesson about "enough water to make a gallon combined with the honey" not "a gallon of water"...

Anyways, this one started at 1.096 and has been bubbling through the airlock happily since the morning after the day I brewed it.

Batch 2: Exactly the same as batch 1, but with the addition of some acid blend. This batch is really just for me to learn what the difference in taste is that can come with adding acid - if anyone has a suggestion as to how much or little I should add please let me know, I'm a bit in the dark on that.

This is from the same batch of must as the first one, and remains identical, bubbling happily. When done I'll add that acid blend.

Batch 3: I'm not 100% set on this one yet, but I think I will be again replicating batch 1, but with the addition of steeping some green tea in the boiling water ( before adding the honey). I don't think I should leave the tea in the must for fermentation, as I really dislike the bitterness one gets in teas that have been steeped for too long.

I did decide to do green tea on this one, I steeped 6 teabags of Presidents Choice Fair Trade green tea in the must (post cooling) for one hour. Other than that it is identical to the two previous batches, but with an ever so slightly higher starting gravity of 1.098 - bubbling through the airlock happily since the morning after brewing. I might end up steeping some more breifly in secondary if I can't taste it enough.

Batch 4: Blueberry Melomel. I tried using the mead calculator to figure out the amount of blueberries to add but got a bit lost - that thing might take some practice! I wouldn't mind this one being more on the sweet side, so I think I will again copy batch 1 (2 lb. 14 oz honey)

This one was from the same batch of must as the green tea one, but with no green tea, so 1.098 is the starting gravity. Also had airlock activity right away, morning after.

Batch 6: Really just for fun, this isn't even a mead. I'm going to attempt to duplicate batch #1 using good quality Maple Syrup instead of honey. I realize that maple syrup has a lower sugar % than honey, so I'll try to do some math to figure out how much extra to add, and I'll err on the side of dry, as I can always add more after primary (I think...).

I changed the order up a bit here because I want to talk about the batch I'm worried about last, so I'll talk about this one first. This one ended up being a maple/honey cross, and I think might turn out a bit on the sweet side. I used 2 lbs 15oz of grade A maple syrup, and 1 lb 7 oz of the same mystery honey as the last four batches. This might be a bit excessive, but as with the last 4 batches not all of it made it's way into the jug because I used too much water, a lot of it is in my freezer! Anyways, the starting gravity on this one was 1.116 and it gave me some trouble, maybe because of the high sugar, but I may have also temp shocked the yeast because I broke my thermometre early on, and had to guess when the musts were below 30 degrees celcius to pitch? At halfway through the day after brewing this one was giving me no airlock activity and totally lacked that "yeasty" smell that the rest have (I can't smell ANYthing but yeast in the others right now) so I added a second packet of yeast (by now I had a new thermometre so I was able to make sure the temps were OK). By later in the evening it was bubbling through the airlock at the same pace as the others - hurray! (also smells like just yeast now)

Batch 5: Avocado honey! I like dark beers and dark honeys, so why would I not love dark honey mead? I'm planning to again duplicate batch 1, but simply swap the Clover honey for Avocado.[/I]

Since my original honey plans didn't work out I had to make some changes, but I still wanted to try a dark honey - so I went with Manuka. This batch is worrying me. This one used the same amount of honey as the first 4 batches, but because this time I didn't screw up the water measurment I ended up with a significantly higher starting gravity, 1.120. I started it the day after the other ones, and I absolutely made sure the rehyration temp and must temp were in the green. No airlock the next morning, so in the interest of getting fermentation started to beat any bacteria that might be in there I added another packet of yeast. Now, two days after brewing, it is still not giving me airlock, but there does seem to be a little carbon dioxide being released when I shake it. It does not yet smell like yeast. Should I be worried about this batch, or give it another day before I start doing anything to it?

AToE · Jun 25, 2009

akueck said:
With the berries, I'd suggest starting around 2 lb for your one gallon. You can add more later if it's not berry enough for you. Blueberries are fairly tart though so you don't want to add too much if your mead will be dry. You can also search the forum, there are several blueberry meads floating around so you can get a sense of how much and when the berries are added. If you have a larger vessel (a 2 gallon bucket?), you'll be happier dealing with the fruit than if you try to fit the mead and the fruit all in a tiny gallon jug. The mead only needs 4-7 days with the fruit (give or take some days), so there is not much worry of oxidation if you use a larger container for this part.

Berry mead: put the berries in the secondary. They take up a lot of room, so if you use them in the primary you'll only get about 1/2 gallon out of it (primary needs more headspace).

I just realized I'm a bit unsure about this melomel batch, so I'm going to ask a million questions, I really hope you don't mind.

I left extra room in this one (with top up must in the freezer), but I was just looking at the bag of blueberries in my freezer, and 2 lbs seems like a LOT of berries! Even with all the room I left, if I add the berries in the secondary I don't think they'll fit. I could tranfer to my 5-ish gallon enamel pot that I use for mixing the must, it has a lid and as such would keep bugs out, but there would really be a lot of headspace in there. I am planning on slightly crushing all the berries to let the juice out, do you think 1 lb would be effective, or would you really recommend 2? If 2lbs is necessary, do you think I should use the enamel pot for a week, or should I take out some of the mead to make room, freeze it, and then add it back in after the berries are gone?

Or could I try putting in a pound now, then tasting it in a couple weeks when I rack and adding another pound for a week or so if necessary? I searched a lot in the forums, and it seems like some people prefer the fruit in the primary, though obviously I have no clue.

akueck · Jun 25, 2009

Try a pound for now. You'd be surprised how much fruit you can jam into one of those containers, so you might find out that after you throw a pound it there is still enough room. If not, see how that works out for you. You can always rack again and add another pound in the next week or two. Heck, you might even add another pound after that.

AToE · Jun 26, 2009

Okay, I put in a pound (all sliced to let the juice out), and I think it's about the perfect amount for now, there's still a little bit of headroom, and I couldn't imagine the mead having turned darker purple!

AToE · Jul 24, 2009

I've tried searching the forum, but haven't been able to find a good answer. I'm going to do two of these batches as tests for additions, one for acid, then one for tannin (I may add tannin to the acid batch after initial testing and vice versa). I know I'm just supposed to add to taste, but I need a starting point for 1 gallon that is safe.

Would 1 tsp be okay to start with in a 1 gallon batch, and after that, when adding to taste, should I go in 1/4 tsp increments, or is that too small to be noticable?

akueck · Jul 24, 2009

One tsp of acid? That sounds like it is way too much (assuming it is at least sort of concentrated). For, say, lactic acid 88% (commonly available at brew stores), I would start with maybe 1 ml. That sounds like too much to me too, but it is at least ballpark. Conservatively I'd suggest starting with one drop from a dropper, which should be more like 0.2 ml or so. Then again, I've never added acid at the end so what do I know.

AToE · Jul 24, 2009

I have powdered acid blend, so I'm not sure what quantity would be dissolved in 1ml. I could cut it down to an 1/8th of a tsp or such and just build my way up from there if you think that's the safest bet. I'm surprised that little would be detectable in an entire gallon of mead, but what do I know?

Same thing for the tannin galacol, or can I get away with a bit more than that?

I have no problem making lots of little additions, I just want to avoid oxidizing, and every time I stir/swirl some more acid/tannin in I'll be adding oxygen too I imagine.

I don't even know if I'm going to like acid in mead, seems like very few of the more experienced mead makers here add acid.

afdoty · Jul 24, 2009

AToE said:
I have powdered acid blend, so I'm not sure what quantity would be dissolved in 1ml. I could cut it down to an 1/8th of a tsp or such and just build my way up from there if you think that's the safest bet. I'm surprised that little would be detectable in an entire gallon of mead, but what do I know?

Same thing for the tannin galacol, or can I get away with a bit more than that?

Before you add any acid, maybe check the PH.....Again you're working with meads that are still very young. The PH will jump around. You might be adding acid to something that's already where it should be.....

Here's something from the Scotts Laboritory "2008 Fermentaion Hand Book".....(Oskar had a link to it on one of his posts)

TA N I N G A L A LCO O L

White, Rosé, Red, Fruit, Cider
#15445 1 kg $44.10

Tanin Galalcool is derived from the gall nut of oak trees.
It is referred to as a “white fluffy tannin” due to the
color and nature of the product. It was specifi cally developed
for addition to white wines because it is colorless.
Tanin Galalcool is recommended for use on grapes
that have Botrytis, other molds or rot. Sprinkle directly
on grapes. It inhibits laccase activity and oxidation and
protects the must against browning. Tanin Galalcool is
effective as an anti-oxidant when used in conjunction
with SO2 on sound grapes. It may also help stabilize
proteins in varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc which are
protein rich. This tannin may be used in aging red wines
when very subtle changes are desired.

To Use: Dissolve Tanin Galalcool in 10 times its weight
in warm water (35°C/95°F). Add directly to the grapes
at the crusher or to the juice or to the wine during a
tank mixing to obtain good homogenization. If the
addition of Tanin Galalcool is post-fermentation, it
is recommended to wait 3-6 weeks before proceeding
with normal rackings, fining and bottling.

R E COMMENDED DOSAGE
White/Rosé Juice 50–150 ppm (5–15 g/hL)
0.42–1.2 lb/1000 gal

White/Rosé Wine 50–300 ppm (5–30 g/hL)
0.42–2.4 lb/1000 gal

Red Wine 50–300 ppm (5–30 g/hL)
0.42–2.4lb/1000 gal

Fruit, Cider 50–200 ppm (5–20 g/hL)
0.42–1.6lb/1000 gal

akueck · Jul 24, 2009

To break the last post down, you're looking at about 1-5 g/5 gallons or 0.2-1 g/gallon for the tannin. It's fluffy, so 0.2 g might come out to a reasonable measure. My scale only does 1 g though, so I'm no help there.

If it does help, I added 1 ml of 10% phosphoric to 1 gallon of my tap water and (apparently) dropped the pH by 0.5. That's quite a huge drop, and your taste is quite sensitive. I'm guessing your acid blend is 100% acid by weight, so you can dilute it appropriately. I would suggest a 10% solution to start, it's dilute enough that you can put visible quantities of liquid in there. Start small, you can always add more.

AToE · Jul 25, 2009

Thank again for all the advice, I'm glad I checked first, it sounds like the 1 tsp I was planning on starting with would have been overkill. I'll use the suggested methods and amounts.

I don't know what the PH is right now, I really just want to learn what adding more acid will do to the flavour - more of a learning experiment than an attempt to make good mead. Same goes for the tannin.

Test Batches

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